This morning it was very wet and very windy but the forecast was showing it clearing up as the morning progressed, thankfully they got it right apart from the wind! The upside of the wind was it dried the roads very quickly indeed and I actually got home with a clean bike for a change! The wind was from the SW and nudging 40mph at times, I decided to enjoy the tailwind so headed NE! I passed Hillend Loch and not surprisingly the water was very choppy!
I then headed for Shieldhill and was hoping to hit 50mph down the big descent to Glen Village but the wind was swirling a bit on the way down so I took it easy and still hit 44mph...
I had a very nice view of the Ochil Hills on the way down!
I then made my way to Linlithgow and headed up the climb past the canal, I stopped for some photos of course!
The climb was into the wind at first but then the road turns to the east, its full of ups and downs like this!
I stopped at the top for this one looking back down the hill!
It was a very clear day so the Forth bridges were easy to spot today!
I then had this climb out of the valley!
The views form the top were pretty special!
The Pentland Hills to the SE!
I joined Burnhouse road for a short time but wasn't braving that descent today with a 40mph crosswind, instead I took the back road to Cairnpapple! Straight into the wind here but
level 3 assist took care of that!
I would soon have some big climbs to contend with, maybe I should have asked the horses for some help!
I stopped a few times on the way up for photos, the views were just incredible today!
It was time to take on the corkscrew climb!
I had this view of the bridges from the top!
After all the climbing I was looking forward to some big descents now and they were all shielded from the wind so it was pure cycling heaven all the way down to the western side of Dechmont! I joined the cycle path to Bathgate from here but my timing was poor with the schools about to finish for the day so I had to use the main roads to avoid the chaos, I rejoined the path eventually and made my way to Whitburn! Then up the climb into Armadale and west on the back road to Blackridge directly into a 40mph headwind, I had lots of juice remaining in my second battery though so that sure helped! From Blackridge it was a battle against the wind all the way home! What a fantastic day despite the wind, tomorrow is looking very nice and we will have light winds for a change so I will be out again! I have things to do in the morning sadly but my afternoon will be free!
